Text : 1Corinthians 2 :10-16

I have found that many Christians have a great desire to experience the manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

At a Bible college in England where I occasionally ministered in the 1980’s the students loved God's Word, but if there was one thing they particularly wanted it was  to learn was how they themselves, could move in the Spirit.

This is a sensitive question.

I believe that many Christians don't experience the power of the Holy Spirit not because they don't believe in the work of the Holy Spirit for today or that they don't know the Scriptures or don't desire it.

But often it’s simply because they just don't know how to practically begin to move in a spiritual dimension.

Let us look at some Bible teaching and how it’s outworked in a practical application.

SPIRITUAL THINGS ARE FOR SPIRITUAL PEOPLE

...not for super-spiritual people.

The difference between a super-spiritual person and a spiritual person :

The super-spiritual person tries to sound and act spiritual. They want to impress people as if they have a special connection with the Holy Spirit.

The spiritual person has real Holy Spirit fruit to show rather than inflated words.

1 Corinthians 2 :14,15,

Paul gives us the definition of a spiritual person :

 a man (or woman) who is able to discern or judge spiritual things.

One who has developed a genuine sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit

The key to developing spiritual sensitivity - is deliberately choosing to be receptive to God’s guidance coming from outside the natural realm.

Take, for instance, a radio : It can be switched on but receive nothing except confused noise. The problem is that though it’s switched on, it isn't tuned in. You have to tune in to a certain frequency or wavelength to pick up radio signals that are always present in the air though unseen. This is also the case with wifi signals. Your device can be switched on but if you haven’t entered the password you won’t receive anything.

The Holy Spirit is always prompting us and communicating but it is the individual Christian who has to discern and receive His signals and not to confuse it with signals coming from other sources such as our own desires.

Spiritual sensitivity comes from doing what the Apostle Paul says

Colossians 3 :2 « Set your minds on the things that are above and not on the things that are on earth ».

The problem is that we are more easily natural than spiritual.  

That is, we more easily have our thoughts fixed on practical problems than on heavenly direction.

Just try praying for an hour and see what happens to your mind. Your thoughts will move laterally from one earthly problem or concern to another.

Romans 8 :6. « For the mind set on the flesh is death but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace »

This verse could and should be translated :

« For the mind of the flesh leads to death, but the mind of the Spirit leads to life and peace. »

The flesh has a mind of it’s own and the Spirit has a mind of it’s own.

Before a meeting I need solitude and quietness to tune into the Holy Spirit’s mind to be sensitive to the voice of the Spirit.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HOLY SPIRIT AND OUR THOUGHTS

1Corinthians 2 :10-12,16.

« For to us God revealed them through the Spirit ; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among people know the thoughts of a person except the spirit of the person that is in him ? So also the thoughts of God, no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. (…) For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct him ? But we have the mind of Christ. »

The Holy Spirit searches the mind of God, and reveals it to the mind of man.

A revelation from the Holy Spirit is something that is generally received in the mind, it’s often just a thought.

In our first church in Ipswich years ago I was praying one morning with my assistant pastor. It was a Wednesday and I had no idea of what I should preach about that Sunday. It did concern me. As we prayed, this thought came to me « gathering ». So I researched it, and it became a key message that I preached not just in Australia but also in England and throughout France stirring Christians to « gather » people to Jesus.

A prophecy is just a thought which you discern as being from the Holy Spirit.

A word of knowledge is just a certain fact or detail that comes into the mind.

1John 2 :20, « But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things » is one translation – it gives you an access to unlimited knowledge

How a word of knowledge can work.

People in the church in Ipswich asked me about the « word of knowledge » after seeing a visiting speaker operate the gift freely in a meeting. So I decided to preach on it one Sunday night. At the end of my message I felt I needed to move in a  « word of knowledge » to build up the faith of the people but what I shared was pretty basic and hardly convincing for a sceptical person.

Inwardly I was praying « God help me » ! I got everyone up to sing a song and I prayed inwardly « Lord, the first thing that goes through my mind I just have to believe it is a word from you. » I closed my eyes  and in my imagination I saw the image of a horse. At the end of the song I said is there anyone here that has a major issue in your life that relates to a horse. Everyone looked puzzled and there was no reponse. I thought « OK forget that » I’ll reach out to some of the unsaved people in the service. There were a couple of new guys I didn’t know. I moved towards them offering to pray for them. As I did the power of God fell on one on them and he fell to the ground. 

I followed him down praying for him. As he opened his eyes I said to him « Does a horse mean anything to you ? » I was leaning over him so he was actually speaking into my lapel mic. He said, « yes ». Then he said that he had just left a Salvation Army rehabilitation farm and that he and his friends were planning to return that very night, to steal horses from the corral. He was shaken by the word and the congregation gasped.

Revelation can also come in dreams, visions and other ways but the most common form is a thought implanted by the Holy Spirit

HOW TO EXPRESS SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS

1Corinthians 2 :13, « We also speak these things not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words »

Spiritual thoughts need spiritual words to be communicated with impact.

Paul says to use spiritual language but not religious language

Religious language is like that of the pharisees.

People who use religious language try to impress the hearers with their Bible knowledge or with mystical and spiritual sounding language giving the impression of special revelation.

It may impress but will not have spiritual impact on the lives of those present.

Spiritual language, on the contrary, is the use of words which convey simply the full impact of the revelation given to that person.

For spiritual impact direct and simple is best.

THE NEED OF WISDOM IN EXERCISING SPIRITUAL GIFTS

When operating spiritual gifts we need to exercise faith and boldness but we absolutely need wisdom

In John 4 :16-19 Jesus received a word of knowledge for the woman at the well. She had had 5 husbands but now was living unmarried with a 6th man. Jesus receives the revelation but walks carefully with it. He doesn’t say  « Lady, God just showed me something about you ». He simply says  « Go call your husband ».

As you learn to move in the Spirit, learn also to move with wisdom.

A young preacher once told me about his biggest mistake in wanting to move in the Holy Spirit.

He regularly conducted a meeting where he would pray for the sick. One of the people who came regularly to that meeting was a man who was totally blind. One particular night, the night before the meeting, the preacher, in the middle of the night had a dream, and in the dream he saw himself in the meeting praying for the blind man. In his dream the blind man was instantly healed as he prayed. The preacher  woke up in the morning very excited - God had spoken to him in a dream ! That evening he was in a hurry to get to the meeting and to pray for the blind man. He didn't preach for very long and at the end of his message, he called the blind man forward. He shared with great conviction what God had shown him in the dream. Everyone was excited. The preacher then prayed for the man with great authority and the laying on of hands.

At the end of the prayer he led the man to the side wall where there was a painting. And he said to the blind man : «  What do you see ? » The blind man looked intently and replied : « Nothing ». Not to be deterred, the preacher prayed again with even more authority and took him to the side wall again. « What do you see ? » And the man replied :  « Nothing ». The preacher prayed again, and again, and again, and this went on for 1½ hours without any result. It brought discouragement - to the blind man but also to all those who were in the meeting, not to mention the preacher. What’s more, it brought discredit to the healing ministry in the eyes of everyone.

So what went wrong ?

His dream was simply not from Holy Spirit.

It was a projection, a subconscious projection of what he wanted to see happen.

And because he lacked wisdom, and discernment, it turned out to be a very negative experience for everyone.

So what should he have done ?

He should have said : « I have on my heart today, to pray for our friend here who is blind. Let's believe for God to bring healing. » If the dream was really from the Holy Spirit then the miracle would have taken place.

Projection out of our own desires is one of the biggest problems facing legitimate prophecy today.

Some safeguards need to be in place so that we are not prophecying out of our desire to bless others.

I will say more on this later in the series.

As you learn to move in the Spirit you'll have to accept that you'll make mistakes. Wisdom is the only thing that protects you and others from making bad mistakes, and you will learn with experience.

THE NEED OF FAITH AND CONFIDENCE

To move in the revelation of the Spirit you do need to take certain risks : to be bold and to step out in faith.

God has already given us the source of confidence we need.

1John 2 :27 says : « As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you (…) »

So John tells us that we have received an anointing and it remains in us.

As you step out boldly, you will gradually begin to recognise his special anointing, and the way you need to operate to see exciting Holy Spirit fruit.

 I noticed it with different ministry moving in specific anointings.

One pastor friend has a real wisdom anointing and many other pastors want to be mentored by him.

One ministry we received specialised in the area of hearing.

Another pastor/friend operated the gift of discerning of spirits. I worked with him for a few years. His level of discernment as he prayed with people was remarkable. He didn’t shout at demons.

He was able to pray into the heart of people’s needs and deliverance would follow.

On a number of occasions I have seen some spectacular results in bad backs being healed and I have faith in that particular area especially in an evangelistic setting.

As you minister humbly to people in prayer, confidence grows, faith increases and a greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit comes.